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St Mary, Bromfield, Shropshire

Location
(52°23′15″N, 2°45′45″W)
Bromfield
SO 482 769
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Shropshire
now Shropshire
medieval Hereford
now Hereford
  • Barbara Zeitler
29 Aug 1998

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Feature Sets
Description

The church is a fragment of a 12thc church, which appears to have been cruciform in shape. The church was originally single-aisled. The church is entered through a doorway in the tower at the NW end of the nave. Tower is c. 1300, the inner doorway of tower 13thc. Blocked-up remains of 12thc window, which tapers inwards, on S wall of nave. Remains of 12thc window on N wall of nave. N aisle added in 13thc. The N transept arch is round-headed and is 12thc.

The present chancel lies on the site of the 12thc crossing. The remains of S transept arch are visible on exterior of chancel. A recess, c. 1300, in S wall of chancel in interior, includes some earlier, possibly 12thc sculptural decoration. 12thc chancel arch forms E end of church. Capitals of chancel arch decorated. Building history of E end is complicated. 14thc window, now blocked up, set into chancel arch. Bricked-up triple Perpendicular window above 12thc chancel arch.

History

A church existed in the Anglo-Saxon period, and was replaced by a Norman building probably in the early 12thc. In 1155, the church staffed by secular canons was transformed into a Benedictine priory and affiliated with St Peter's Abbey in Gloucester. The priory was dissolved in 1538 and acquired by Charles Foxe who used building materials from the priory to construct a Tudor house. The house was destroyed by fire in the 17thc and the chancel, which had come to form part of the house, was restored to the church. The building was extensively restored in the 19thc.

Features

Interior Features

Arches

Chancel arch/Apse arches

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous
Comments/Opinions

It is difficult to determine whether the faces to either side of the recess were reset or are in their original position, the recess being fashioned to accommodate the faces.
The blocked window on the exterior of the E end of the church may have belonged to a bedroom of the Tudor house. Charles Foxe (see above) is said to have incorporated (see Anon, Bromfield Priory and Church) the chancel as a dining-room into his house with a bedroom above.

Bibliography

Anon, Bromfield Priory and Church, Shropshire, leaflet, n.d.

L. Garner, Churches of Shropshire, London 1994, 46-48.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Shropshire, Harmondsworth 1958, 85-6.